The development opportunities and challenges of the ferric phosphate industry coexist and the future development prospects are broad.

Iron phosphate, also known as ferric phosphate and iron orthophosphate, is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula FePO4. It appears as a white or light red crystalline powder. It is insoluble in cold water and nitric acid, but soluble in hydrochloric acid and sulfuric acid. Iron phosphate is an important raw material for lithium iron phosphate, nutritional supplements, feed additives, etc. It is mainly used in lithium batteries, food, feed, ceramics and other fields; the main production method is to oxidize ferrous sulfate with hydrogen peroxide and react with phosphorus to precipitate it. .

Iron phosphate is a salt produced from an iron source and a phosphorus source, and is an important precursor for the cathode material lithium iron phosphate. In recent years, driven by the rapid development of the domestic new energy vehicle industry, the market demand for lithium iron phosphate batteries has continued to increase. As an important raw material for lithium iron phosphate batteries, iron phosphate’s production capacity has continued to expand. According to the “China Ferric Phosphate Industry Market In-depth Research and Development Prospects Forecast Report 2022-2026” released by the Industrial Research Center, in 2021 The annual domestic ferric phosphate production capacity is 631,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 114%; the output is 465,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 243%.

At this stage, the distribution of domestic iron phosphate production capacity is relatively scattered. In 2021, five companies, Yacheng New Energy, Nayuan Material Technology, Tianci Materials, Anda Technology Energy, and Henry Lithium New Materials, will occupy the main share of my country’s iron phosphate market, accounting for a total of 59% of the market. share and industry concentration is low. In addition, Xiangtan Battery, Hunan Hongyue, Caike Battery, Hubei Wanrun, Ruige New Energy and other companies occupy the remaining market shares. Currently, there are many companies in the domestic iron phosphate market and the market competition is fierce.

However, driven by the continued growth of market demand, leading companies in my country’s iron phosphate industry have expanded production capacity. For example, Yacheng New Energy’s 50,000-ton iron phosphate project at its new base in Ningxiang is expected to enter the commissioning period in the third quarter of 2022. In the future, the market will gradually move closer to leading companies, and industry concentration will continue to rise. my country’s ferric phosphate industry is expected to have a number of leading companies with technology, brand, and scale advantages, and the industry has broad prospects for development.

In the future, under the background of continued expansion of domestic ferric phosphate production capacity, the supply of its upstream raw material phosphate rock resources will become an important factor affecting the development of the industry. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, my country’s phosphate rock production reached 88.933 million tons in 2020, a year-on-year decrease of 4.7%; its output increased to 102.899 million tons in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 15.7%.

Industrial Analyst personnel said that from the perspective of the supply situation of phosphate rock resources, from 2016 to 2020, domestic environmental protection efforts have continued to strengthen and ” Under the implementation of the “Three Phosphorus Remediation” policy, phosphate rock production capacity has continued to decline; however, driven by demand for lithium iron phosphate batteries in 2021, its production capacity has stopped falling and has rebounded, showing an upward trend. At this stage, the supply of domestic phosphate rock resources is still in a tight balance. It is expected that under the influence of the continued growth in demand for lithium iron phosphate batteries in the future, the tight supply and demand pattern of phosphate rock resources will further intensify. In the future, the development of the domestic ferric phosphate industry must continue to break through the tight supply of raw materials and seek new technologies, new materials, and new opportunities.